Chapter Ten: Nostalgic Wanderings

Eve woke up quickly, realizing immediately that something was wrong. The first obviously wrong thing she noticed that she had fallen asleep on the ground without her sleeping bag, which was uncharacteristic of her even during the summer. And she couldn't sense the presence of either Basil or Hannah. Even now that Basil had a pokéball, he always curled up next to Eve as she slept, at least whenever they were traveling. Something was definitely, definitely wrong.

As Eve pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around, she started to grasp just what else was wrong with her situation. She had no idea where she was. She was surrounded by trees, and yet the trees of this forest seemed younger than the positively ancient oaks that she had seen in Ilex before. A small, wooden shrine was standing right next to her; Eve guessed that she must have fallen asleep right at its base. But why fall asleep there?

A vague, dreamlike memory entered Eve's head as she stared at the wooden shrine, and she suddenly put all her focus into remembering it. Whatever the recollection was, it felt relevant. I think I remember the shrine a little… I remember a stantler guiding me to it, and… That's it! The stantler tricked me into following him! But where is he now? And why did he do it in the first place?

A slight rustling noise sounded above her, and Eve snapped her head up to see the source. Interestingly enough, Eve soon realized that the tree branches above her head were not housing whoever the culprit was. Rather, the noise was coming from inside the shrine. Eve scooted back on the ground a little ways, putting some distance between her and the shrine as the little wooden doors at its front rattled from the movement within.

Then the door opened, and the green head of a pokémon peeked out. ~Oh, good, you're up!~ the green pokémon said happily, her large round eyes bright with enthusiasm. The pokémon floated cheerily out of the shrine, revealing her rather fairy-like body. The antennae on her head bobbed lightly as she floated over to Eve and circled around her several times. ~I'm Celebi. You're Eve, right?~

Eve stood slowly, trying to process the last phrase that the green pokémon had said. "So you said your name is Celebi?" Celebi nodded in response. Eve scowled slightly, confused. "But I've never met a pokémon that used names, either for herself or others. Why do you?"

~Well, I suppose you could say that I'm a bit different from the average pokémon,~ Celebi explained. ~To put it simply, I'm the only one of my species that ever existed, and I've lived for several thousand years. And I'm quite a bit stronger than the average pokémon.~

Eve was amazed, though her awe quickly drained as she remembered her situation. "But where are Hannah and Basil? They're my friends, and they'll be worried if I'm gone long. For that matter, where am I?"

~The 'where' is easy. We're at my shrine, not too terribly far away from where my friend brought you from,~ Celebi said. ~It's the question of 'when' that makes the situation complicated. Why don't you ask about that? You did notice that the forest is quite a bit younger here, right?~

"Um, okay. 'When' are we?" Eve asked, thoroughly puzzled by this point in the discussion.

The little green fairy twirled excitedly through the air. ~We're about 2,000 years before you were born, and about 500 years before the Great Change.~

Eve's jaw literally dropped. "Y-You're not lying, are you?" Of course she isn't, Eve thought to herself even as she voiced the question. Pokémon don't lie, at least not in the same sense that humans do. Eve continued, "But… but… how?"

~As I said earlier, I'm a pretty special pokémon. I can move backward and forwards through time, though I need this shrine for long time jumps and for bringing others with me. Like you.~ Losing some of her cheeriness, she continued, ~I'm also really sorry I had to bring you like this. But if I'd just asked you to come, I was afraid your friends the pichu and the chikorita would have insisted on coming along, which would have made the time jump extremely difficult. Even with just you, I've had to rest three days to get back up to full strength.~

"Three days! Was I asleep for all that time, too?" Celebi nodded. "Basil and Hannah are going to be so worried! Oh, but wait… If you can travel through time, then you can just transport me back to the moment I left, can't you?"

Celebi dropped slightly in the air. ~Actually… no. Since you're still aging now, that would mean that, when returned, you'd be several days older than you actually should be. Strangely enough, that causes more problems than a huge time jump like what we just did. Between what I have to show you and the time I'll need for resting, it might be a week before I can get you back to your time.~

"And you couldn't have just told my friends what was going on? Basil especially is going to be freaking out if I just disappear."

~I already told the stantler who brought you here to go back and explain to your friends what's going on,~ Celebi assured. ~If I'd told them before now, they probably would have tried to stop me.~

Eve sighed. "Okay, I don't think you mean me any harm, but why go to all this trouble? You said you needed to show me something?"

Celebi started floating away from the shrine and into the surrounding forest. ~Yes, I do need to show you something. Follow me; I'll tell you about it as you walk.~ Eve did as she was told, and so Celebi continued, ~What I need to show you is something that is known only to pokémon who have lived for as long as I have. It's called the 'Great Change'. We're five hundred years before it right now, so that you can see how things were before this change.~

"A change, you say? Did something like this change maybe happen in the three hundred years before I was born?" Eve asked, suddenly making the link between the old slowpoke's warning the previous day. "A slowpoke I talked to told me about a time of anger that started sometime in that time frame. I think she called it a change, too."

~You have met a very wise slowpoke, then,~ Celebi said. ~Yes, that was a change, too. Just not even close to the same level of the Great Change. The change you're referring to occurred about 150 years before you live, and I call it the Change of Confrontation. All I know is that it was started by powerful pokémon like me when they fought. And that it has caused more conflicts since, both amongst the Great Ones and between the Great Ones and humans.~

"Who are the Great Ones?" Eve asked.

Celebi twirled a little in the air. ~They're all unique pokémon like me, although most of them are quite a bit stronger and more important than myself.~

"Okay, okay. I think I get it. Is there anything else you can tell me about that 'Change of Confrontation', or whatever it's called? The slowpoke seemed to think that it had something to do with me."

Celebi shook her head. ~I'm sorry, but I'm tied to this forest. I can't just leave Ilex and see what else is going on in the world, and so I have no idea what really happened. All I can do is sense the changes in the times. Thankfully, the Great Change originated here, so I can at least show you its source.~

"I guess that's okay if you can't tell me more about what the slowpoke meant," Eve said, though she was obviously disappointed. "Anyway, I think I have one more question. You said that you need to show me the Great Change, but you still haven't told me why showing me this change is so necessary."

A mischievous twinkle entered Celebi's eyes. ~And you've hit on the question of the millenia there. I just felt a very specific compulsion to pick you up from your time and show you the Great Change. I've always thought of that compulsion as Fate; this is the third time it's called on me to do something like this. Though whether or not it really is fate is up for debate; maybe it's some higher power, a pokémon stronger than even us Great Ones. I don't know. As I said, it's happened to me a couple times before, and each time it's pretty much impossible to ignore.~

"Hmm… I don't exactly get what you're saying, and I think you might be insane, but I'll believe you anyway," Eve said jokingly, somewhat resigning herself to the whole crazy situation. "So what are you showing me at this spot in time?"

~This,~ Celebi said, stopping next to a big bush at the edge of a clearing. The bush was tall enough to hide Eve completely, so she stepped just behind it and peeked through the leaves to see into the clearing.

Walking on the other side of the clearing was a group of men, and it wasn't until Eve caught sight of them that she truly comprehended that she was in the past. These humans wore clothing completely unlike her own; it looked to be made completely out of some sort of leather, and it was dyed with dark colors to match the shadows of the forest. They stood out now only because they were well within the light of the sun, preferring to walk in the clearing rather than through the brambles of the forest. Each carried a spear-like weapon in his hand, but their hunting seemed already accomplished; two of the men were dragging the body of a girafarig behind them.

Eve watched intently, undisturbed by the scene before her. While she felt sad for the girafarig, she knew the circle of life as well as anybody. She'd seen her pokémon friends in the forest killed for food, and she'd learned long ago that it was the only way that life could continue.

Rather than dwelling on that matter, she tilted her head and tried her best to listen to the words that drifted across the clearing to her. It was all gibberish to her, though, so she turned to Celebi for explanation. "What am I supposed to be seeing here? People killing pokémon for food?"

~No, no,~ Celebi replied sadly, ~Turn back and watch for a couple more minutes. We've come right in time for what you need to see.~

Eve did as she was told, and soon, she heard the sound of wing beats. She looked up and saw something huge flying overhead, heading directly towards the group of humans. Her mouth opened as she tried to cry out a warning, but a vine from a nearby tree seemingly came to life and gagged her.

~You must watch, not interfere,~ Celebi said grimly. Eve tried to turn away as the huge winged pokémon dived, but the vines held her head in place. In the end, she couldn't even shut her eyes as the men finally realized the danger. They tried to run, but the prehistoric flying beast was too fast. It landed on two of them, immediately crushing their bodies and killing them. Three more humans were sent flying by the lashing of the creature's long, heavy tail; two of those three screamed in terror and in pain, and the third was killed immediately when the impact of the tail snapped his neck.

The last two hunters attempted to escape by running off into the woods, but the flying pokémon caught sight of them as they tried to flee. It opened its mouth and, after a moment's pause, a beam of light and energy shot towards the two humans. There was a small explosion as the concentrated energy met solid matter, and the would-be hunters plummeted forwards to the ground. Eve knew that they couldn't have survived it; even a pokémon of decent strength could sometimes be done in by a well-placed hyper beam.

Within less than a minute, one pokémon had managed to kill five out of seven humans, and the other two were so incapacitated that they were certain to be dead as soon as the gigantic gray beast noticed their pained moanings.

Eve continued to watch for a few moments as the creature dipped its mouth down and ripped out the stomach of one of the humans it had landed on. Eve's shocked mind took in every detail of the beast that she had missed in the previous chaos: its strong, talonless feet; the thick, almost rocky grey skin of its hide; the bloodstained serrated teeth that filled its long, vicious-looking muzzle; and the gargantuan wings that had allowed such a vast being to descend so stealthily upon its unsuspecting prey.

Finally, Eve tore her eyes from the gory scene. She fell to the ground, trembling so hard that she could no longer keep control of her body. Bile rose to her throat and she gagged, though she somehow managed to keep herself from actually throwing up.

It took her nearly ten minutes to get a hold of herself, every moment of which she was agonizingly aware of the creature gorging itself on human flesh only a few hundred feet away.

"Th-that was terrible," Eve finally managed to stutter, though half of her mind was still listening to the crunching of bones and the vicious cawing of carrion-eating murkrow. "Part of it is that I've never seen a human killed, and humans are so much more afraid of death than are pokémon. But… but that wasn't even the worst of it. It was just slaughter. The humans had absolutely no chance. The difference in power was so… so… unfair. Even a group of caterpie might have had a better chance, if they'd attacked together. But humans… I don't even understand how my species survived, if things were ever like this."

Eve felt the gentle touch of Celebi's arm on her back. ~Then you have understood the essence of what the world was before the Great Change. The balance was tilted in favor of pokémon, and humans were incredibly outmatched. Humans were the main prey of carnivorous pokémon at this point in time, because they were so much easier to catch and kill than other pokémon. I'm sorry if it shocked you, but this was the best way for me to impress upon you what it was like.~

"But why does this apply to me? Why did I have to see something like this?"

~If my guess is right,~ Celebi said, ~then this is preparing you for something. Perhaps you need to know this, or perhaps you need to be ready for similarly dreadful moments in your own life. For your sake, I hope not. Either way, let us continue back to the shrine, and then onto another happier time.~

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~This is approximately 1,500 years before your time. We're literally days away from the crux of the Great Change,~ Celebi said as she and Eve sat at the edge of a village, hidden amongst bushes once again. According to Celebi, this was Azalea town in its very beginnings, when it was still completely surrounded by Ilex Forest.

"Everyone seems fairly content," Eve commented. "And I even see people and pokémon working and playing side by side, just like in my time."

Celebi skeptically twitched her antennae. ~Just like your time, huh? Maybe you should look a little closer, because I guarantee you that this is quite different from the time you're accustomed to. Go ahead, take your time. Even though the jump through time to here wasn't as bad as my first jump, I'll still need several more hours to go fifteen hundred years back to your time.~

After about thirty minutes of silent observation, Eve slowly started to see that there really was a difference between this time and her own. "It seems like the humans respect pokémon more in this time. I can hear what some people are saying, and even though I can't understand the language, I haven't once seen someone command a pokémon. They only seem request things of the pokémon, if I'm judging their actions and attitudes correctly. And they don't ignore the pokémon… it almost seems like they ask for the pokémon's opinions before doing anything."

~You've hit the truth spot on,~ Celebi said happily. ~In this era, pokémon and humans are at a rare balance. There are some pokéballs made out of stone and wood, but these are so difficult to make and so expensive that very few people have more than one. So there's more of a one-to-one pokémon-to-human ratio, rather than the oh so common six-to-one of your time. Some of these pokémon don't even have pokéballs; many pokémon would join with people willingly. It's a mutual relationship: pokémon provide help and protection for the humans, and humans are very effective at training pokémon, even in this time period.

Humans and pokémon in harmony? Sounds like a perfect world for someone like me… "So what changed all that?"

~Do you see that house over there?~ Celebi asked, pointing to a house at the edge of town.

"Yeah, what about it?"

~That's the house where the first real pokéball was made. Have you ever heard of Kurt of Azalea Town?~ Celebi asked.

Eve scratched her head. "I met someone named Kurt while helping some slowpoke in Azalea. He was an older guy who seemed to know a lot about the slowpoke."

Celebi floated happily, making a circuit around Eve's head. ~That doesn't surprise me. The Kurt I know – the Kurt of this time period, and the ancestor of the Kurt you met – he always had a soft spot for the slowpoke around here. He's the one who built a way for humans to get down to the slowpoke caves; that entrance is now called Slowpoke Well. In fact, the entire reason he created the first true pokéball was so that he could keep his friend with him, since his friend the slowpoke was too slow to keep up with him naturally. Kurt didn't have enough money to buy a pokéball, so he made one that actually turned out to be cheaper to produce than the originals. Plus, it was much easier to make his pokéballs than to carve them out of stone or wood.~

"How did he figure out how to make it?" Eve asked.

~He was observant. He knew that apricorns were so nutritious that a single fruit could easily sustain a human for two days,~ Celebi explained. ~He figured that if the skin could hold so much energy, it might be able to hold the energy of a pokémon. This was how one of the nicest humans I've ever met managed to change this world of balance into the world you now know. It was this single invention that started a chain of events that led to much innovation on the part of man. And with that innovation came dominance.~

Eve frowned. "But how could the invention of the pokéball start all that?"

Celebi dropped down and sat on the ground. ~That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure myself. Having more pokémon meant more free labor for humans, and that was part of the reason for the humans' sudden progress. Another part of it was that somehow, the spread of the pokéball awakened a kind of pokémon called unown. And the awakening of the unown allowed both for a more advanced language system as well as a writing system, which previously had been unheard of.~

"But I've been to the Ruins of Alph, where I met the unown that told me to come to Ilex forest. I read something there that said that the writing system triggered the age of progress for humans."

~Writing helped, but as I said, it wasn't the trigger,~ Celebi insisted. ~The pokéball is what unbalanced the world. Writing was only an effect of the invention of the pokéball.~

Eve sighed and rubbed her forehead. "So how is the time when I live so bad? I'll recognize that it's unbalance, but most pokémon don't have it too badly off. As long as they avoid capture, then they just live out in the wild like they always do."

Celebi's antennae drooped in her equivalent of a sigh. ~There's not much I can do to help you if you've lived in your own time and still can't see what's wrong with it. But tell me this: have you ever seen a pokémon like the one that killed and ate those people in the first era I brought you to? Let me answer that for you: no, you've never seen a pokémon like that. They were all mercilessly killed after humans figured out a safe way to do so. Did you know that a certain species of pokémon called farfetch'd was hunted to extinction long before your time, only because they tasted good? Or did you know that another, very honorable species of pokémon called growlithe is nearly extinct because people like their striped pelts?~ Celebi's antennae dropped even further. ~The lack of balance in your time is something you'll need to see for yourself. But even if you're blind to it now, I'm confident that you'll do the right thing when your purpose is made clear.~

"I certainly hope you're right… Especially if what you think I'm going to do is so important that you had to take me back in time," Eve replied. The two lapsed into silence for a long while. Eve watched as a single man went in and out of the house Celebi had pointed out earlier, carrying apricorns into his home by the dozens. I could stop him right now, Eve thought. Or Celebi could. And then we'd always have a world where pokémon and humans are at balance… But Celebi would never do that, I know. And altering the course of history doesn't seem like it would be a great idea, anyway. I suppose humans will just have to step up to the plate for themselves and try to fix what is wrong in the world. Who knows? Maybe it could happen.

"Before we head back to the shrine, I have a question for you," Eve suddenly said, breaking the silence. "You said that my time is unbalanced. Does it get worse in the future after my time? And if what you think I'm destined to do is so important, don't you have some inkling of what it is after traveling to the future beyond my time?"

Celebi shook her head sadly. ~I'm sorry, but as far as the future after your time goes, I'm as blind as anyone. Sometime in the next few years after you came to my forest, something destroys my shrine. And even though I don't need my shrine to time travel, I do need it to be in whatever time I travel to. I dare not go any farther into the future beyond the time I picked you up in; the destruction of the shrine is warping time for a year or two before the damage, and trying to get too close might end up destroying me.~

"What if I promise to rebuild your shrine? Could you time travel again?"

~No, human hands did not build my shrine, that much I know. Only someone with some mastery over time might be able to make a new one.~

Eve smiled slightly. "I guess it's just like that old saying goes, then. 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.' Even though I've met the pokémon of time, I still can't figure out what you and the slowpoke think might happen to me. I guess I'll just have to continue on like I always have. Now, do you think I could go back to my own time now? I'm certain Basil will be freaking out, and to be honest, I think I'm even getting some separation anxiety."

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Almost as soon as Eve arrived in her own time, the felt something furry jump on her head, and another something rubbing against her leg.

~Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve! I missed you!~ Basil practically shouted, sparks arcing from his cheeks in his excitement. ~That's it! That is the last time I allow you to take directions from unown!~

~Basil was really worried while you were gone, so I made him get his mind off of it by training together nonstop,~ Hannah said proudly. ~His accuracy is really good, and his power got at least a little better through training. And now my vines are even longer, and I even learned how to use the sun to regain health!~

Eve smiled to herself. I should've known. I go missing for almost six days and all Hannah cares about is her training. But even though she's not as clingy as Basil, I can tell that she's glad to see me back. "I missed both of you, too!" Eve said, taking Basil off of her shoulder and hugging the pikachu affectionately. "And I'm glad to hear that you got something done while I was gone. Do you still have my stuff with you?"

Hannah ran over to one side of the shrine and dragged it out into the open using her vines. ~When that stupid stantler came back to tell us what was going on, we made him help us carry it. I still can't believe he managed to trick us like he did.~

~Oh, and before I forget, Katsu came by after a couple days,~ Basil said. ~He seemed worried that you would get lost in the forest. When he found us, he seemed really anxious. I kind of wondered if he reported you as a missing person to the police.~

"As much as I dislike him right now, I'll text him to let him know I'm alright, and to find out if I really am considered a missing person right now... If he found you guys without me around, then he probably did call the police. But I will not talk to him, even if he calls," Eve sighed. "At least it all worked out okay in the end, so don't worry about the stantler thing too much, Hannah. Anyway, on another note, I'd like you to meet someone…" Eve looked around, and after a couple moments' of searching, she spotted Celebi lying down inside of her shrine.

~I'm just taking a breather,~ Celebi said, without turning to meet Eve's pokémon. ~I'll be all right in a day or two. Anyway, nice to meet the both of you; my name's Celebi. I'm sorry I had to take your trainer away from you, but I just wanted to show her a couple things.~

Basil flicked his ears angrily. ~And what was so important that you couldn't tell us that you were going to take Eve right out of this century?~

Though Celebi remained lying down, Eve noticed her antennae prick up in amusement. ~It was actually more important than any of us realize, I think. Make sure you take care of your human well; if she's so important that Fate pointed her out to me, then I have a feeling that you'll have some tough days ahead of you. Now, I am going to get some rest, and I'd appreciate it if no one bothers me. Eve, it was nice meeting you, and I wish you the best of luck.~

"It was nice meeting you as well, and I promise that if I can, I'll try to fix the shrine when it's damaged," Eve said.

~I appreciate the thought, but it's unnecessary,~ Celebii said. ~If it ended up being rebuilt, I'd already know. Now I really am going to sleep now, so good night.~

Eve was about to respond, but then she realized that the time travelling pokémon was already asleep. She shrugged her shoulders, picked up her backpack, and then silently gestured for Basil and Eve to follow her. Night was starting to fall, and Eve wanted to find somewhere to sleep for the night. I've finally returned after going back in time a couple thousand years, she thought to herself. I can't wait to sleep in my own time again, in my own sleeping bag, and next to Basil and Hannah. Eve closed her eyes in a moment of peace, but opened them almost immediately as the image of that flying monster's bloodstained mouth filled her mind.

She groaned slightly. Even though I'm in my own time and far away from that pokémon, I wonder how long it will haunt my nightmares?

I love this chapter. ^_^ It's sort of the first real precursor of what is to happen in the fic... Though I do suppose the last chapter and the unown chapter also alluded to this in their own ways. Oh, and I also like it because Celebi makes me smile.

Anyway, next chapter is the one that almost made me permanently change this story to M-rated... I ended up modifying it greatly from its original version. As in, the language and themes are WAY toned down from what they were. The connotations are still there, though, so those of you who would have been mature enough to read the original version will probably have a pretty good idea of how the chapter was changed. Aside from that, though, there I didn't change the plot or the course of events from the original, so it's all really the same thing.

And I can't believe I'm already to chapter 10! I've barely finished Chapter 14, so I'm definitely falling behind... Still, I should be good for a while yet. You have at least another month's worth of chapters guaranteed to come on time. ^_^ Wish me luck in finding the time to write!